The Christening in the Atlantic (Long)

[FrankF]

Izzy,

I calculated some worst case scenarios for you. (Just to try and dissuade you from making the 30cf mistake.)

You are doing a recreational dive to 130 fsw. You limit yourself to swimming 5 minutes away from the anchor line knowing that this is an NDL dive. You look down at your gauge and you are at your turn point, you make your turn and, for whatever reason, your reg freeflows uncontrollably. You've been separated from you buddy (or chose not to dive with one). You are pretty freaked out and you scramble and switch to your pony system (if it is backmounted lets just hope you remembered to turn it on--again another argument). You are freaked out but know you have to get back to the anchor line. A five minute swim. Your sacr creeps up to 1.0 cf/min/ata with all the frenzy. With this sacr you eat up 24.7 cf on your swim back to the anchor line. You see the mighty anchor line and it settles you so your sacr drops to .6 as you make your ascent. With an avg ascent dept of 75 ft. and an ascent time of 3 mins (give or take the 10 feet) you eat up another 5.9 cf. To do a 5 min safety stop at 20 fsw will cost you another 4.8 cf. 24.7 + 5.9 + 4.8 = 35.4 cf.

Planning dives is all about worst case scenarios. In this one your short a few cubes. Get the 40.

 

[AquaHump]

Lest beat it on down the line. I see that in your gear lay out you say you are diving with Faber 120's. Now that being said, I assume because you are talking about a pony bottle that they have not been twined up. Why don’t you manifold them together? This would be a much safer way to dive I recommend that you look into the Hog system and see there layouts. That 40 cf cylinder will make a nice stage bottle. If you are planning to be a strong Atlantic diver this is something you should think about.

 

[diveh3]

Izzy,

I calculated some worst case scenarios for you. (Just to try and dissuade you from making the 30cf mistake.)..........
.............Planning dives is all about worst case scenarios. In this one your short a few cubes. Get the 40.

I thought thats what spare air was for.

 

[diveh3]

Oops, dup.

 

[grouchyturtle]

That sounds like my first trip too. Same trip as XJae's that is, and 2 other cherries. Made one dive, got sick and passed out for the rest of the day. only 5 out of 12 divers did a second dive that day (and even those guys were feeding fish on the SI).

I'm a pretty good fish feeder so when diving off NJ I use Scopace, which is just a pill form of the patch. Works great, but you'll get some serious dry mouth, so bring plenty to drink, which causes another problem, so additionally a p-valve is manditory!

For calmer waters like in the Carib I just use Bonine. Also somone mentioned earlier that they use Meclazine (this is the same thing as Bonine, although the prescription may be a slightly higher dose, and does wind up being a little cheaper).

I used to sling a 30 before doubling up. And except for a little episode on my 2nd dive ever off NJ, never had any problems with it, and took very little to get used to.

 

[coach_izzy]

Planning dives is all about worst case scenarios. In this one your short a few cubes. Get the 40.

Thank you very much Frank. I had made some calculations myself, and well, the 40 came up the winner. Thanks for the advice! In the future, I will also get a 19 CF bottle, but it'll be for my caribbean diving. I guess I'll have to give the spare air the boot in the near future. Thanks again.

 

[coach_izzy]

I thought thats what spare air was for.

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[coach_izzy]

That sounds like my first trip too...

Well, it's comforting to know I'm not the only one. I thought the othere divers would laugh at me or call me names, but they were all sympathetic and patting my shoulders they would tell me "I've been there kid, but it gets better". Obviously, there was a unanimous agreement that the relief band sucks.

... but you'll get some serious dry mouth, so bring plenty to drink, which causes another problem, so additionally a p-valve is manditory!

Darn it, see I KNEW I'd have to get a pee valve. I'm alwas drinking lots of fluids and pee them just as fast. One thing I notice is that diving with a drysuit, the urge is not as strong. Still, adding the pee valve to the gear list

For calmer waters like in the Carib I just use Bonine.

I've been fortunate enough to never experience sea sickness in all my caribbean dives. I remember one of the glorified bathtubs from the Sand $ in Bonaire in a dive to Klein in a very windy day. Lots of people got sick, but it did not bother me at all. Same when diving in Florida. That's whay I thought I'd be inmmune to it and the relief band would suffice. I guess I needed to be humbled.

I used to sling a 30 before doubling up. And except for a little episode on my 2nd dive ever off NJ, never had any problems with it, and took very little to get used to.

I've decided to go for the 40. I will ask Joe to help me configure it and set it up. Seeing the doctor tomorrow and finding out what's up with the air. Diving will have to wait a little while. Like I said before, my ears feel fine, with a little pop here and there, but I do not want to take unnecessary risks. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Tanked]

Jersey diving ROCKS!
I've been out there with an ocean that was smooth as glass, and had 25 foot vis. I've also been out there with dark skies, a ****ed off ocean, and vis so crappy I could hardly see the computer on my wrist. Even on the crappy days I still loved it. Glad to hear that you got your first taste, lets hope your next time goes better.

 

[grouchyturtle]

Darn it, see I KNEW I'd have to get a pee valve. I'm alwas drinking lots of fluids and pee them just as fast. One thing I notice is that diving with a drysuit, the urge is not as strong. Still, adding the pee valve to the gear list

Yeah especially this time of year, regardless of where you're diving. I just keep the suit on all day to stay warm. If you have to go just do the one leg hang off the boat, or take a walk to the edge of the water if shore diving

I've been fortunate enough to never experience sea sickness in all my caribbean dives. I remember one of the glorified bathtubs from the Sand $ in Bonaire in a dive to Klein in a very windy day. Lots of people got sick, but it did not bother me at all. Same when diving in Florida. That's whay I thought I'd be inmmune to it and the relief band would suffice. I guess I needed to be humbled.

I usually don't, but did once. Didn't feed any fish and didn't miss any dives, but since then usually take half a Bonine just to play it safe.